


Accountability Pieces: POI

by Code16, JustifiedGlass (Code16)



Series: Accountability [2]
Category: Person of Interest (TV)
Genre: Abuse, Alternate Universe - D/s, Corporal Punishment, Discipline, Episode: s02e13 Dead Reckoning, Episode: s03e11 Lethe, Episode: s03e12 Aletheia, Non-Consensual Spanking, Other, Punishment, Self-Indulgent, Self-Sacrifice, Spanking, Sub!John, switch!Fusco, switch!Kara, switch!Root, switch!Shaw, switch!Snow
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-12
Updated: 2016-02-14
Packaged: 2018-05-19 20:11:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5979637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Code16/pseuds/Code16, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Code16/pseuds/JustifiedGlass
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Some scenes set in my CP-focused d/s verse</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Shaw/Root, consensual, post (no CP on screen). John POV.

**Author's Note:**

> Sometimes I write things that aren't really stories yet but that also are kind of staying where they are at the moment. I'd like to be able to put them up and I like AO3 for this more than tumblr. I figure if some of them later end up actually in stories, I can indicate accordingly.
> 
> See endnotes for warnings etc

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (additional warning for person making joke that might be insensitive given the oppression of their particular society, though the particular person does not mean it badly and the listeners are fine with it.)

When Root walks into the room and drops into a chair, only to promptly pull back and sit back down more carefully, looking somewhat absorbed and somewhat interrupted and shifting slightly, the first thing John does is rewind the event in his memory to establish he’s actually sure he saw it. The second is to check himself against surface reactions -he’s an operative; he should be ready to react appropriately if an armed hit team swarmed into the room. This really  _ shouldn’t _ compare.

Internal reactions are another story. He’s not going to  _ ask _ \- they’re not on those terms, and that’s just not… polite, even if it’s Root. But- (the third is to wonder absurdly if the Machine sent her to Public Enforcement. He doesn’t have any doubts she’d  _ do _ it, in that case. But-). From her place on the armchair Shaw glares at him, and he realizes he didn’t manage the second thing as well as he might have wanted.   


“You want to  _ not _ look like you just came visiting from another galaxy?” He’s not really sure what to say to that. “What, your dom doesn’t beat your ass enough, you forgot what it looks like?” And, alright, now there’s definitely a reaction. He looks between the two switches. Doesn’t  _ say _ ‘how?’, but apparently Shaw gets it anyway, because she rolls her eyes.

“Well, John, when two people have a special connection, and one of them is-” she’s interrupted by Root half straddling her and kissing her, to all appearances comprehensively. Root breaks away, leans back and pouts. “How could you say such a thing about me, I’m hurt.”


	2. Kara/John, nonconsensual-personal, general/referenced (no CP on screen), CIA period

"John?"   


He's scrubbing the floor, hands and knees - they'll be in this house for all of 60 hours, and as far as he’s concerned the floor is fine, but this is one of the days when he'd rather scrub the floor than take a beating and  _ then _ scrub the floor.   


He hears the door when Kara comes home.   
  
"Kitchen." The signal on the front window meant ‘no, the package hasn’t arrived yet’, so he doesn’t have to repeat that to her. She saw it, and hears him, because she shows up in the doorway almost right away, just long enough to take her coat off.    


"You're not done yet?"   


"It's a big house," he points out. "Upstairs is done. I just have the living room left." She must be in a good enough mood (the meeting must have gone fairly well) because she leaves him to it, walks out to the dining area and sits at the table with reports.  He gives it about 1:2 odds that she'll bring it up again later; more if he does something else that annoys her (or someone else does), possibly less if he finishes quickly and if she's happy with dinner. Might depend on the package, if the package shows up.   


He finishes quickly, she's happy with dinner, and no one annoys her. The package must be arriving tomorrow after all. 

That makes it the fourth day in a row he ends without even token discipline, which he doesn't expect to last long but he'll take what he can get.


	3. Other/John, Other/Fusco (offscreen), nonconsensual-social, alt-continuity Lethe/Aletheia

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note: in this universe, Carter is alive, and John ran off to get drunk in Colorado for a somewhat different reason.

John’s pretty sure the police who pull up outside the bar would rather like to put him, at least, over the hood of the car then and there. They don't, for whatever reason (he can't remember what the local policy on hitting drunk people actually is), put both of them in the back of the car instead.

They don't ask them anything till the station. At which point they still don't ask  _ him _ anything - he's been entirely uninclined for the effort to play switch, so, sub, no collar (the hell he was dragging Harold into anything he did out here), no drugs on him when they searched him, they're not really interested in further information. He waits at processing while they ask Fusco for the option.   


"I'll have what he's having." John's entirely too tired to go analyzing that. It does mean they're put in the  _ same _ cell.   


"Now why do  _ I _ have to wait till morning just because  _ you _ felt like having half the bar," Fusco complains when they’re locked in. Well, some people don’t like waiting.   


"This was your idea," John points out. No one's near the cell, and there's no camera, so he's not worried about saying it outloud. He's entirely too tired to have more of a conversation, either, so he tunes out the rest of it. He's slept considerably less comfortable places than this bench; it doesn't take long.   
  
In the morning, Enforcement continues to take their time showing up.    


"Maybe all their admin-certs are on vacation," Fusco suggests.   


"This is a police station, they're all admin-certifieds." That's not entirely legally accurate - people could opt out, and there might be a few subs in the force proper (small town, and he hasn't seen any, but it's the 21st century). In any case, it's fairly obvious they're being left to wait on purpose. Hardly a novel tactic.   


"Well maybe they all went on vacation and left us here." That would, if anything, be easier - he could break out of this cell without trouble if it wouldn't be ridiculously obtrusive. It's also obviously not the case, and Enforcement does indeed make themselves known eventually.   
  
They're taken to separate rooms. Normally he'd expect the same room, but since this was a fight, Enforcement's not taking the chance they'd be gratified to see the other punished. Too far away for sound to carry, even. (Well, he's not complaining.)

As expected, they’re not very nice about it - single sub, how he looks, small town, par for the course. They give him the paddle for public intoxication (which is kind of getting off easy, really) and the strap for fighting. Have two admins in the room and have them switch in the middle (he doesn’t think it’s really enough to necessitate it, but maybe they’ve been doing other things too, that day. Or one of them just gets tired easily.) “Hand,” says the first admin when they let him get up. Which is fairly expected too, for fighting. He holds out his hand. They don’t ask him for the other one after, which is a niceness step above the CIA and sometimes the army, in any case.

Outside once they get released, Fusco rubs his hand on his jacket and glowers.

“Next cafe we see, we’re stopping for ice. Don’t give me that look, just because you wouldn’t care if someone hit you with an anchor chain doesn’t mean the rest of us wouldn’t. My other hand’s broken here.”

“An anchor chain?” asks John, mostly to distract himself from thinking about the CIA again. Who would have been perfectly glad to hit him  _ over _ broken fingers, if it came to that, he’s fairly sure. Or to break his fingers, if that wasn’t off the table for subs.

“Eh, something my mom used to say.” John usually heard lead chain, which is also a bit too close to home. He casts for an alternative again. 

“Was there a reason they all looked so annoyed at you?”

“Pulled rights on them. Made them call the bar; know I wasn’t drinking. Don’t give me that look either, of course it’s counterproductive. I’ve got pride, here.”

“So you told them-”

“That I was completely sober when I dragged you outside and punched you till you started hitting back? Yeah.”

“You admitted to starting it - that’s sweet of you, Lionel.”

“Well, fine, I might have said you started it by being and sitting there to begin with. But if they mean who hit who first, yeah I did that.” John blinks.

“They make a hobby out of provoking Enforcement where you’re from?” 

“Like you’ve never.” That’s a - fair point. John takes a look around the lot.

“So - you got a car?”


	4. Kara/John, Kara/Snow, nonconsensual-personal, Dead Reckoning

“And John? That’s your last warning.” 

She doesn’t say anything more specific and doesn’t need to. He already know that means the next time she’ll shoot him (or blow him up, whichever). And he already knows that the only way he’s not getting a beating is if she’s too busy to give him one. That was how it worked, with disobedience and Kara.

He’s not expecting her to come down into the room; he’s noticed how careful she’s being,  in the same place with him only if they’re also in public, plenty of civilians around to die if he decides to go for the sacrifice ploy and jump her. When she joins them it’s in the street, busy with foot traffic. If they were elsewhere, she’d probably order him to the nearest wall. Let pedestrians glare at him as they had to walk out of their way, the sub who was giving his dom so much trouble to make her have to deal with him then and there. Since they’re not elsewhere, he gets a reprieve, walking down the street with everyone else till they get to a restaurant that seems to be her intended destination.  

Once inside, Kara looks around, checks the time, then walks up to the counter.

“Do you have a private room we could use?” She throws a very obvious look at John. The switch at the counter follows it.

“Of course. Will you be needing assistance?” Kara smiles at her, then at him.

“I don’t think so. John won’t be making trouble, will you?” John got too used to this, once upon a time, to grit his teeth, really. Even without showing it. And this is a mission, if not the same one for him as for her. He feels the chain against his ankle.

“No, ma’am.”

“Wait outside,” she tells them when she’s shown the room. Presumably Mark’s supposed to keep an eye on him. Barely a minute later, she’s back at the door again.

“Table by the wall. That’s as far into the room as you go.” He has a suspicion, and has it confirmed when he walks in, sees the table pushed against the wall with the door. One of the restaurant's tables is directly against it on the other side; he’d seen the family sitting there in front of him a moment ago. The wall won’t stop a bomb blast, not enough. Mark goes to stand against the opposite wall; John’s already figured out that Mark doesn’t want to die too much for Kara to need to take the same precautions. Kara closes the door, then crooks a finger at him.

“Well, hand it over, John.” Again, she doesn’t need to elaborate for him to know perfectly well what she means. For maybe 10 seconds, John does exactly nothing. He’s done this dozens, maybe hundreds of times, and somehow this time he doesn’t  _ want _ to. Like it’s giving her something that isn’t hers. 

Kara gets a look he’s all too familiar with. “Putting your new accessory on did involve taking your shirt off. Don’t try pretending you don’t have one.” John feels the chain against his ankle again. Survival first, if at all possible. Survival, the mission, or at least everything he can do to that end. He pulls the belt off, lets her take it from him. She wraps the end around her hand. 

“Hand.” That he can hold out to her right away. One, then the other. Kara fully ensures that holding the table isn’t going to be a positive experience for him, then has him put his second hand down, indicates the table, and starts unwinding the belt again. He doesn’t bother asking what she wants him to do with his clothing, just does what he already knows to do. Not like there’s anything she hasn’t, either of them haven’t seen before. By her tone, he’s pretty sure Kara raises her eyebrows.

“Someone didn’t like you. That agent I shot for you?” The answer to that was physically no (Donnelly hadn't disciplined him personally, though John's pretty sure he would have liked to) and otherwise yes. Kara doesn’t really want an answer. John stays where he is and waits for her to start what she does.

Kara is thorough. Very. Whatever he might do to avoid showing it, by the time she drops his belt on the table, he - really rather more than doesn’t mind getting to the end. More than wouldn’t have minded it, somewhat earlier. 

“Did I say you could get up?” Silently, John berates himself. That one, he’d walked right into. Should have known better, and did. Kara didn’t care for formulaic apologies. He returns to position, braces for another round. Instead of picking up the belt again, he hears her, and a zipper. She’d brought her own instrument, then. He resists the urge to look - as times to annoy Kara go, this is really not the best. And it isn’t like he’s not about to find out. 

He finds out. Or, rather, he doesn’t, because ‘vicious’ isn’t an implement name. Logic says it should be easy to identify - whatever it was, it must have been memorable last time. But this tends to be one area his memory doesn’t specialize in. CIA Enforcement liked canes, but he knows she can’t have a cane, and anyway, it didn’t feel like one, lacked the rigidity-

“You can look if you want.” He hesitates a second, then turns his head. It dangles from her hand, black and doubled over - electric cable, possibly. “I like it. Portable. Makes an impression.” He’s not sure if she means that literally or figuratively. Probably both. It wasn’t drawing blood, but he has no doubt it could. “Eyes down.” 

He’s still not bleeding, by the end, if about right on the edge of it as far as he can tell. He hasn’t moved, either, won that fight with his reflexes every time. As far as what he has going for him, that seems about the full breadth. His breathing is worse than ragged, his fingers have cramped on the table edge until he has to peel them off. His teeth, the muscles of his jaw, charge him the price for trying to stay quiet. 

“Alright, get your clothes on. Quickly, work awaits.” Kara never has the patience for him trying to do this carefully. He does it without turning around, instead, hides his wince at the fabric and contact with it. She doesn’t give him his belt back, puts it away herself. He’s not sure if it’s a further warning or if she’s just hoping to get him in trouble with some admin-certified down the line. Kara directs him and Mark out the door, then follows.

It turns out they’re staying at the restaurant for lunch. To his advantage, it’s busy, every place with a chair taken already. Kara has to settle for a booth. She’s annoyed about it, which negates the advantage and then some. When Kara’s irritated, people get hurt, and if they’re about to start another mission phase, he runs the risk of running out of time in trying to limit those people to himself. Half-automatically, he runs analysis, possibilities. He’s out of practice, but with hope he can manage the time limit. (With additional hope, he can keep it short of the line where she’ll ask for the room again. He’ll go another round with the electric cable, if he has to. He’d rather - not have to.)

Refusing to eat isn’t quite sufficient, outside of eliciting psychoanalysis. Provoking her outright seems like it’s going to work, when Mark interrupts by apparently joining in. (John knows full well Mark would cheerfully see Kara shoot any number of people as long as they aren’t him, which means he’s either that much of an idiot, or Kara hasn’t quite beaten the aforementioned little fighting out of him just yet.)

“Hand,” Kara says, still smiling. That much, it seems, she’s beaten into him. She pulls out the electric cable again. 

“Took me a while to train him not to pull away,” she notes to John, conversationally. “As much trouble as you were, I forgot to appreciate not having to start that far to the beginning. Not that it hasn’t been fun.” She turns to him when she’s done with Mark; he holds out his hand without waiting for her to ask. 

John ends up being fairly glad he didn’t order food, since it means he doesn’t need to hold cutlery. But Kara seems settled, which covers priorities. She doesn’t engage them in conversation again; Mark keeps his mouth shut and finishes his fries. The next time Kara speaks up, he can tell it’s mission-phase. 

“That’s your cue. The men at the counter. Follow them outside.”

(She doesn’t object when he pulls Mark off the second agent and “or should I deal with them my way” seems a genuine threat, not an inevitability. He has no assurance that she doesn’t shoot them as soon as he and Mark are gone, but he thinks he’s given them the best odds he can, which is a step up from a sniper rifle at least. And he can both still walk and hold a gun. It’ll have to do.) 

**Author's Note:**

> I am a giant cp/discipline kink person, and this is where I am being very self indulgent with it. If this is not something you like/something you do not want to see done with/to these characters, that is very valid, and I would recommend reading something that isn't this story.
> 
> This verse is fairly towards the less nice end of the 'fantasy oppression' scale with respect to d/s verses.
> 
> Some of the CP here is consensual (as in, the people would and do actually want it to happen), some is not. Of that which is nonconsensual, it might be either personal (abuse) or social (as that is a thing in this society). Scenes will be labeled accordingly.
> 
> Note re "John Reese/Kara Stanton" - John and Kara were not in a relationship according to the standards/definitions of this verse. However, if people in our universe were doing the kind of thing John and Kara did here, I would consider it accurate to tag them as /. Therefore, proceeding in accordance.
> 
> [My tumblr for these kinds of things](http://findundergrounddragoutofwater.tumblr.com). I love fandom social things, and anyone who feels like they might want to message etc me for any reason is encouraged to totally do so.


End file.
